E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 116 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 166 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2020 No. 103 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Thursday, June 4, 2020, at 10 a.m. Senate WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3, 2020 The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was to the Senate from the President pro healthcare professionals, and paralyze called to order by the Honorable SHEL- tempore (Mr. GRASSLEY). schools, universities, and employers LEY MOORE CAPITO, a Senator from the The senior assistant legislative clerk that are eager to reopen. Of course, State of West Virginia. read the following letter: there is also the important business we f U.S. SENATE, would have needed to have addressed PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, even before the pandemic. PRAYER Washington, DC, June 3, 2020. So, for all of these reasons and more, The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- To the Senate: while the Democratic House of Rep- fered the following prayer: Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, resentatives may be absent—with no Let us pray. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby plans to return for weeks and weeks— Eternal God, ruler of the universe, we appoint the Honorable SHELLEY MOORE CAP- the U.S. Senate is here and working for ITO, a Senator from the State of West Vir- the American people. rejoice because You are near. Lord, we ginia, to perform the duties of the Chair. are grateful we belong to You, and You This week, we are filling more crit- CHUCK GRASSLEY, desire us to call You our Father in ical vacancies throughout our govern- President pro tempore. ment. Yesterday, we confirmed the good and bad times. We can face any Mrs. CAPITO thereupon assumed the Special Inspector General for Pan- calamity with the knowledge that Chair as Acting President pro tempore. nothing can separate us from Your demic Response. This is a brandnew po- love. Death and life can’t. Our fears for f sition born of immediate necessity and today and our worries about tomorrow RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY goals shared by Members of both par- can’t. Whether we are high above the LEADER ties. Yet, though our Democratic col- leagues said for weeks that CARES Act clouds or in the deepest ocean, nothing The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- in all creation can separate us from oversight was a top priority, our col- pore. The majority leader is recog- leagues chose to delay this nomination You. May this knowledge of Your abid- nized. ing and indestructible love inspire our for as long as possible. When the rubber Senators to trust You with all their f met the road, yet again, picking small fights with President Trump took prec- hearts and depend upon Your wisdom. BUSINESS BEFORE THE SENATE We pray in Your awesome Name. edence over urgent work for the com- Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, Amen. mon good. our Nation is caught within a number At the same time, we also hear from f of grave problems at the same time. the very same Democratic colleagues PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE This week, in cities all across Amer- that they wish the Senate would spend The Presiding Officer led the Pledge ica, the pain of racial injustice has less time on nominations. Well, the of Allegiance, as follows: been compounded by violent riots that good news is that the Senate Demo- have drowned out peaceful protests and I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the crats can change that whenever they United States of America, and to the Repub- hurt innocent people. Millions of work- want, but as long as they continue to lic for which it stands, one nation under God, ing families continue to face the his- visit delays and obstruction on even indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. toric economic fallout from the these lower level executive branch ap- f coronavirus pandemic, including unem- pointments, just for the sake of irri- ployment levels not seen in decades, tating the White House, the Senate APPOINTMENT OF ACTING and, lest we forget, the actual pan- will continue to do our job the hard PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE demic itself is still with us. The virus way. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The continues to claim hundreds of Amer- Of course, in the weeks ahead, we clerk will please read a communication ican lives every day, challenge will also tackle significant legislation ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2659 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 02:40 Jun 04, 2020 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A03JN6.000 S03JNPT1 dlhill on DSK120RN23PROD with SENATE S2660 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE June 3, 2020 for our country. We will turn to legis- administrations. The President’s strat- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- lation to strengthen the implementa- egy and diplomacy have helped create pore. The clerk will call the roll. tion of the Paycheck Protection Pro- a path for discussions among Afghans— The senior assistant legislative clerk gram for the workers and small busi- the only thing that could actually se- proceeded to call the roll. nesses that are struggling to weather cure the country’s future. Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I this storm. We will consider a bipar- If these qualified successes continue, ask unanimous consent that the order tisan bill from Senators DAINES and it would be appropriate to further re- for the quorum call be rescinded. GARDNER to safeguard America’s abun- duce our American presence as certain The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. dant public lands. For the 60th con- conditions are met, but we must retain LOEFFLER). Without objection, it is so secutive year, we will also take up the enough forces and influence to main- ordered. National Defense Authorization Act to tain our counterterrorism capabilities. RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER help guide the strategic and oper- Given recent reports and our long- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The ational priorities of our Nation’s standing experience, we cannot just Democratic leader is recognized. Armed Forces in the face of evolving trust the Taliban will sever ties to al- PROTESTS AND BUSINESS OF THE SENATE threats. Qaida and other terrorist networks. We Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, need to be vigilant. We need to main- f this has been a very difficult week tain enough presence to judge whether AFGHANISTAN after what has been a very difficult few the Taliban complies with agreements months. A nation, beleaguered by dis- Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, and help the Afghan Government im- ease and economic depression, has once make no mistake, the foreign actors pose consequences if it does not. We again come face-to-face with the racial who seek to harm the United States need to maintain enough presence to injustice that infects our society. The have not let up while we have attended preserve our strategic foothold against death of George Floyd in police cus- to other problems. For example, in Af- ISIS, the Haqqani Network, and al- tody was a searing reminder of a long ghanistan, despite agreeing just Qaida. We should also maintain enough list of unarmed African Americans months ago to engage in further peace presence to help prevent a full replay whose lives have been taken under negotiations with the Afghan Govern- of Iraq or Syria—a bloodbath and a similar circumstances—Breonna Tay- ment and sever its ties with al-Qaida, human rights collapse, particularly for lor, Ahmaud Arbery, and too many oth- the Taliban has, instead, continued its generations of Afghan women. ers—a well of grief and loss and pain violent campaign against the Afghan Last year, a bipartisan supermajority too deep to express. It was a searing re- people. in the Senate voted for an amendment minder of the bigotry and discrimina- President Trump has expressed frus- I authored, which warned against pre- tion that African Americans encounter tration with the Taliban’s failures and cipitous withdrawals from Afghanistan as part of their daily reality. is reportedly considering withdrawing and Syria in ways that could jeopardize That is why so many Americans of from Afghanistan even more rapidly. the hard-won progress we have at- all ages, colors, and faiths are out in Yet, as we weigh our options, we must tained, embolden Iran and Russia, and the streets protesting right now. They not forget the painful lessons of the create more pain for us and everyone are fed up with racial injustice in this last administration’s mistakes. else in the future. country and want to see some change. Former President Obama and Vice Our enemies would be thrilled if the Here in the Senate, Member after President Biden were intent on beating United States would grow too tired to Member has come to the floor to share a hasty retreat from Iraq, conditions continue the hard work of standing support for the same cause. on the ground notwithstanding. Just as with our partners, confronting our ad- Yesterday, our caucus held a somber, many of us warned at the time, their versaries, and maintaining measured emotional, and very personal meeting, recklessness left a vacuum that terror- leadership that projects our security during which our Members shared their ists and Iran readily filled. ISIS flour- around the world. Our enemies would own lived experiences of racism and ished. Tragically, the rest is history. be delighted if we would grow too spoke about what we need to do next The resulting chaos threatened our in- weary to act in our own long-term in- because the truth is, while speeches terests and drew American efforts back terest.